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TRIO OF FIVE-HIT STARS IN NBBO ON SUNDAY
GULDEN, HARRISON, & WIMPLE ALL COLLECT HANDFUL OF HITS; OTHERS SHINE ACROSS NBBO

NORTHEASTERN U.S.A. (July 1, 1877) - It was a banner day for star performances across the N.B.B.O. on Sunday afternoon, with a trio of five-hit performances, a six-RBI outing, and a rare 1-0 pitching duel all taking place.

The first of the three five-hit days took place in Hartford, Connecticut, where Oceanic (19-21) hosted in-state rivals Quinnipiac (16-24). Quinnipiac took the win 6-5 thanks to a run-scoring Single by MacKenzie Gibson in the top of the ninth inning, which overshadowed a 5/5 performance by Oceanic 2B Dewey Gaulden:

• OCE #6 Dewey Gaulden (2B): 5/5 (2B, 6 TB), 2 R, 1 RBI

Even though it came in a loss, Gaulden needed the 5/5 against Quinnipiac as he entered the game batting just .247, nearly 70 points lower than his final mark of .313 from last season. Gaulden ended the game batting .270 (.612 OPS) with 20 RBI and 0.8 WAR through eight weeks of play.

The second five-hit effort took place in another in-state rivalry game, this one involving two of the competition’s New Jersey clubs: Olympic (14-26) & Port Jersey (25-15), who battled at Hoboken & Oakland Park in Pt. Jersey. Visiting Olympic took a surprising 9-5 win thanks to seven runs over the middle innings and their Player of the Game was 2B William Harrison:

• OLY #8 William Harrison (2B): 5/5 (2 2B, 7 TB), 1 R, 1 RBI

The 5/5 raised the greenhorn’s Batting Average to a fine .313 (.721 OPS), through fifteen starts this season, and he’s driven in a dozen runs to go with that over-300 batsmanship.

The third five-hit game, like the first two, took place in a rivalry game in the Northeastern League. This contest: Quaker State (24-15) vs Tiger Social Club (16-24) at the Broad Street Diamond. Quaker St. came out on top 6-4 after scoring four times over the 6th & 7th, and their five-hit star was new RF William Wimple:

• QS #4 William Wimple (RF): 5/5 (all 1B), 1 R, 2 RBI, 2 SB

Wimple, who joined Quaker St. over the winter after spending four years as a backup with St. John’s in the A.P.B.L., has been Quaker St.’s best batsman this season. After eight weeks of play, Wimple has a .386 Average & .962 OPS, both marks in the top three in the Northeastern League. He also has eighteen Extra-Base Hits, forty Runs Batted In, and 2.0 Batsman WAR, making Wimple likely to make both the All-Star Game and the N.E.L. Team of the Year based on current form.

Surprisingly, none of the above three performances were the best by a batsman in the N.B.B.O. on Sunday. That distinction went to Marathon leadoff man Charles Pell, who was the marquee player in a memorable tilt between Marathon (14-26) & Nassau County (16-24) at the Long Island Grounds, which, unfortunately for Pell & Marathon, went to Nassau Co. by the score of 17-16 thanks to a walkoff Single by Ciaran Johnston.

• MAR #1 Charles Pell (CF): 3/6 (2 2B, 3B, 7 TB), 5 R, 6 RBI, SB, 89 GMSC

Pell’s output boosted his Average to .316 (.765 OPS) at the end of Week Eight, and his run production for a leadoff man has been surprising, for Pell has 41 Runs Batted In through forty games.

Finally, we go to Upstate New York, where Utica played host to the most unique game of the day as Upstate leaders Utica and Frontier played out a rare 1-0 contest, with Frontier exiting the victors. There were only eight total Hits during the game (FRO: 3, UTI: 5), and obviously the pitchers were the star of the show:

• FRO P Edward Pelham: CG SHO (10-10, 3.06), 5 HA, 2 BB, 2 K
• UTI P Jesse McDermott: CG (12-7, 3.40), 3 HA, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K

It should be added that the pitchers in this game were backed up with excellent defense. Victorious Frontier committed only two Errors (N.Y.L.: 6.8 E/G) with C Robert Harrelson throwing out both would-be base stealers, and Utica committed three Errors while turning one Double Play in the field.

The N.B.B.O. began the month of July with quite an afternoon of excitement, and if day one is a sign of things to come then everyone will be getting their money’s worth over the next four and a half weeks.